TRAUMATIC EXPERIENCE WITH EUROPCAR HIRE

DISCLAIMER: THIS VERSION IS UNEDITED, BUT YOU'LL GET THE GIST. I arrived in cape town around 9 pm on the 1st of Feb 2018. Got to Europcar, did all the necessaries, was given a key and told the bay in which the car sat. no info on the car, no special instructions, i just had to go and find the car. I even had trouble managing to open the boot, but there was noone in site to assist so we ended up having to figure it out on our own. Saturday morning, I'm driving to UCT campus (remember, i'm unfami**** with CT and had to navigate my way around), car starts playing up. i had a renault stepway. tells me i can only travel a maximum of 30km per hour. I'm extremely distraught because i'm terrified to get stuck on the freeway by myself. I try to call europcar 8 times. no answer. one would think that when you select the roadside assistance option, it means you are needing immediate help. Eish. Thankfully, i managed to get to UCT, at 30km per hour. called europcar again and eventually, someone answered. within an hour or so, the car was replaced. What was the problem? some cruise control button which locks the speed if you press it, whether deliberately or accidentally. if someone had taken the time to take me through the features when i picked up this car, i would've know that, wouldn't i? fast forward to monday afternoon. i now have a Kia Rio. I've left my daughter in her res and need to now get back to the airport to catch my flight back to durban. i try unlocking the car. nothing. try again. nothing. try calling europcar 12 times. TWELVE TIMES! nothing. then i open the car with the key, assuming the remote control is malfuncitoning for some reason. car opens, alarm starts up, then eventually switches off when i start the car. I start driving it anyway, becasue i get to the airport. i call europcar on the way to the airport, becasue i'm not sure what caused the remote to not work, so i'm nervous driving the car in case something happens on my way to the airport so i still want to alert someone about this. i speak to Abraham who, after my very distraught tirade asks, so what can i do for you ma'am. huh? seriously? no man, i thought there was a reason why there are people in your call centre and not robots. I really don't think it's unreasonable to expect some empathy and dare i say it, even a bit of symthathy, from a HUMAN on the other end of the line belonging to a car hire company which prides itself in great service. Abraham failed miserably. Anyway, i eventually arrived at the airport, but i have to tell you; I am not happy with my experience at Europcar. You'll need to seriously up your game or you'll lose a multitude of clients